ExpatInCM

"The girls must be getting rightly juiced up....tons more business!! But then will probably also come more than the usual punch ups. " Again and again, such extremely immature replies from clown expats who are still just very immature adolescents mascarading to be in adulthood. But in fact they are now living in Thailand and for some bizarre reason feel it necessary and empowered to mock and laugh at human tragedy and Thailand's serious earthquake issue's aftermath. There is a HORRIFiC human tragedy unfolding with tremendous loss of life. But clown expats like this one only want to make adolescent school boy (12 to 13 years of age) comments about prostitutes --- who are not even part of the story or the tragedy.

I lived with undiagnosed and untreated SIBO for over 2 years. I really had to push my gastroenterologist specialist in the US to diagnose my very upsetting and distressing problem. But finally he had me perform a SIBO breath test at home using a test kit he had in stock at his office and I mailed the test samples produced to the kit's manufacture to determine the results. Wow! The results were almost 100% indicative to having SIBO, which was something I knew nothing about. The Xifaxan antibiotic he then prescribed eliminated the problem. SIBO can be difficult to cure permanently for most people I am told and have been observing. I just finished my 4 regimen of Xifaxan during the last 2.5 years. Each time , the Xifaxan has eliminated it for me anywhere from 3 to 9 months before I needed another Xifaxan Rx from my doctor.

At his GoFundMe page: 1) he said he was "set up by a local and being asked to drive her vehicle which then landed him up being arrested and locked up for four days in a Thai holding at the police station". This setup included drugging him. 2) his mother wrote: "we know Lewis was drugged in Thailand with a drug that he said just gave him a over whelming feeling of psychosis". He wasn't drugged at the police station with this hallucination causing drug or on his own. He was drugged by the woman who set him up and asked him to drive her car. Many of your replies to this post about this man, who was very much a victim, were cruel, very unfair, and off base! He is not a drug addict, he is gainful employed in the UK, and a reputable person. Go read his story at his GoFundMe page ( https://www.gofundme.com/f/lewis-green-ordeal-in-thailand?qid=60033ad7238c655fe11f78b7a179e367 ) because the story was described her in this forum on Aseannow.com is poorly written, misleading, and very ambiguous in its description of what occurred.

"The young tourist, who sustained serious injuries including fractured ribs and a broken wrist, contends he was targeted and possibly spiked with the hallucination-inducing drug Dimethyltryptamine (DMT)." He seems to contending he was targeted and drugged BEFORE his argument at the cannabis shop. And that is why his memory of the argument is cloudy. AND he seems to be contending that he was so very drugged by whoever did this to him, that he was hallucinating and therefore either not responsible for stealing the car or even unaware that he was stealing a car when he took the car.

So many English speaking people find it very difficult to learn Thai, so it is not really surprising that so many Thai people find it difficult to learn English. I've been watching this annual reports come out for about 15 years now, and Thailand's ranking has not moved very much overy this time period.

"Seems like this guy had some bad luck." ???

"The girl is old enough to know better, did she think her job would be serving fanta with ice. " ? It is very common for runaways to find and take jobs that they are not old enough to do legally. While some people might feel they are old enough to know better, they are making a decision that for whatever reason they believe to be in their best immediate interest. Right or wrong isn't what they are thinking about at the time; they are focused on their survival.

Thank you very much lopburi3 for posting the 2nd link below, the Bloomberg article! It explains the serious debt problem that so much of the Thai population and the country's economy is facing much more clearly than the very vague AseanNow article (which was focused on the Thai policemen's debt) that we read here and are all commenting on. lopburi3 had posted: "Which, if my math is right (often is not) makes the average amount about 1.3 million baht per officer. Wiki puts officers between 210,700 and 230,000. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Thai_Police Other sources place one million baht debit at less that 14% of total individuals. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-06-30/why-thais-have-high-household-debt-and-why-it-s-risky?embedded-checkout=true"

Some things you cannot UN-see. Nudity while swimming in east Europe is common. Berlin, Germany recently announced women do not have to wear tops in public swimming pools any more.

Going to the "Official Website: https://ltr.boi.go.th/" link to learn more yields this message: HTTP Error 503. The service is unavailable.

This is a serious question that I need help in understanding having to do with Thai culture and Thai communication behaviors, but I am sure I'll get some non-serious, unhelpful replies mixed in with hopefully some helpful, well-intentioned and insightful comments also. I honestly want to understand what is going on culture-wise so I can better deal with these experiences. Thank you in advance for your helpful, insightful comments. I am English speaking only. My Thai wife is very fluent in both Thai and English. Many times in stores like Home Pro or with waiters/waitresses in many restaurants we go to, if I am active speaking just a sentence or 2 to my wife so she will be able to translate what I want or what I am looking for to the Thai person, they interrupt me quickly when I begin talking by starting to speak themselves. Their interruption talks over my talking and it prevents my wife from hearing any of my words. Many times I am trying to answer the Thai person who has asked me a question that I need to answer. But as soon as I begin talking to answer, they begin talking again as if I am not even there or as if I am not talking. Sometimes they are very much waiting for the answer they need from me, but every time I begin talking they also begin talking preventing me from possibly communicating and answering their question. This can happen 3 or 4 times in a row sometimes with me repeatedly trying to speak a sentence or 2 to answer their question, but I am just not allowed to speak in front of them and therefore no effective communication takes place. Sometimes we just give up and stop trying to buy what I need, and we either look for another employee to deal with who lets me talk just a little and we then have success with them and buy the item needed, or go to another store where communication is allowed/possible. I witness this same thing happening to other foreigner customers also in these same businesses, so I don't feel it is personal. Does anyone else who is a non-Thai speaking foreigner who is with a Thai interpreter (wife, girlfriend, friend, other) experience this frustration in Thailand? And why does this happen? What is happening? Is it because they know they can't understand my language at all, and they know the person I am with does understand them, and they are just really impatient and can't resist talking in Thai to the Thai person who is with me instead of allowing me to speak a few sentences that can translated for their (and mine) huge benefit? Something else? And most importantly, how can I better deal with this situation when it happens and do something that will allow or facilitate effective communication when they keep interrupting me? Thank you again in advance for any helpful responses and insights!